


Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

by toastkat



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Cute, Devil May Cry 4 (Game), Domestic Fluff, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-25 09:28:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17118764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toastkat/pseuds/toastkat
Summary: It’s Christmas at the shop, and Dante finds himself under the mistletoe more than once with a cute maiden. But is one kiss enough for Kyrie? Or has the devil hunter suddenly become prey?





	Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [whisperedechoes (phoenix_53017)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/phoenix_53017/gifts).



Dante almost didn’t recognize the shop when he came back with groceries for the party. Lady he had expected to be into the idea of the Christmas party, but Kyrie’s enthusiasm surprised him. Sitting down her and Nero to explain to them the entire concept of Christmas had been an ordeal. After everything that had happened on Fortuna, Nero was three steps shy of being a militant atheist, but Kyrie needed more comfort than her guardian. She needed something to hold on to, to give her hope and meaning, and while Trish had joked about teaching her paganism, Dante figured Christmas was a good jumping point. 

“You don’t have to be Christian to like Christmas,” he had told her that morning before he left to let the girls decorate. “Shit, I’m half demon, and I still love Christmas. It’s about more than whatever nonsense the Bible is on about. It’s about coming together in a time of darkness and just bringing a little bit of light to the world, you know?”

She had seemed reassured by this when he left, but he didn’t expect her to be  _ this _ into Christmas. The hunter smiled to himself at the sight of her at the top of the ladder, hanging tinsel on the giant tree he and Nero had dragged into the shop the day before. Everyone had agreed to nix the Nativity and most Christian imagery, since a good half of the party was part demon in some amount and gets nauseated at the closeness of holy relics. Which meant the decorations were in silvers and golds, reds and blues, that gave the dark interior of his shop a magical feeling. Everything  _ sparkled _ . 

He shook his head to himself as he headed for the kitchen, stopping short of the doorway when he noticed the little sprig of green and red tied to the doorframe.

“Who’s idea was that?” Dante asked Trish as he ducked under it to join her in the kitchen.

“Lady’s,” she replied with a grin, looking up from the cutting board. “I don’t know who her intended target is, but I’m sure we’ll find out.”

“Great,” he grumbled, unloaded groceries onto the counter. “And the two newbies agreed to it?”

“Oh of course not! Half the fun is she hasn’t told them yet.”

He touched his nose with his finger. “Not it.”

Trish snickered to herself, taking a bite of the summer sausage she’d been cutting into more manageable pieces. “Relax. They’re kids. They’ll have fun.”

“As long as I don’t have to dress up as Santa.”

“Damn. That means I need to return the beard.”

“You could wear it.”

“Fuck off. You know I don’t wear red as well as you do.”

Dante grinned a bit himself as he put away groceries. His nose wiggling in interest, he meandered to the line crock pots and lifted the lid of one, breathing in the smell of brewing cocoa. The one beside that had wine mulling with spices, and the one next to  _ that _ had a cheesy hamburger dip simmering. He put the lid back on the pot of cocoa and did a mental inventory of the buffet building in his tiny kitchen.

“Where’s the nog?”

“Chilling in the fridge. Are the presents and stockings all upstairs still?”

“As far as I know, yeah.”

She booty-bumped him. “Make yourself useful and bring them down then, red.”

“Can I at least get myself some wine first?”

“Nope! Gifts first, wine later!”

He rolled his eyes and headed for the kitchen door.

“The tree is done!” Kyrie exclaimed as she came in at the same time he was leaving.

Trish looked up at her. Whatever the blonde had been about to say vanished as she caught Dante’s eye. He tried to shake his head, but Trish was already clearing her throat. 

Kyrie gave a confused glance between the two. “What?”

The blonde looked pointedly at her and the sprig of mistletoe dangling above their heads. “Go on, Dante.”

He sighed defeatedly, an embarrassed flush creeping up the back of his neck. Kyrie’s brown eyes were as curious as a doe’s as he faced her, leaning against the doorframe. “Alright so,” he started, trying to figure out how to word his thoughts. His mind was already fuzzy from that innocent look on her face. “There’s this holiday tradition. If two people meet under the mistletoe, they gotta kiss.” Kyrie squeaked at such an impure thought, her own blush painting her face as she brought her hands to her lips. “You don’t have to! I’m not going to make you!”

“Do it!” Trish called. “Doooo iiiiit! Doitdoitdoit!”

“I…” Kyrie mumbled shyly as she lowered her hands. “I don’t mind. I-If it’s a little one…”

Dante sighed defeatedly, smiling to himself. “Tell you what. I’ll meet you in the middle.” 

She held still as his hands cupped her cheeks, and she closed her eyes as he gently tilted her head. The maiden neither squeaked nor flinched as he brushed aside her bangs and kissed her in the center of her forehead. 

“There,” he said as he let go. “That good enough for you?”

Kyrie blushed and nodded.

He narrowed his eyes at Trish. “Happy?”

The blonde looked like she was holding something back. Whether it was laughter or a trill of excitement, Dante couldn’t tell. Trish only silently nodded. When he turned his back on the two, he heard Trish quickly get out her phone and type speedily on it.

Dante tried not to think about that little kiss as he shed his heavy coat to hang on the coat rack. He tried not to think about it as he went upstairs to his room and grabbed the three heavy trash bags of gifts, boxes, shopping bags, and stockings to carry downstairs. He tried not to think about how  _ single _ he was right now, or how adorable Kyrie was, or the fact that a monster like him had no right whatsoever to even  _ consider _ being within five feet of someone as pure and sweet as her. 

He tried, he really did. 

For about ten seconds.

And after that, it was  _ all  _ he could think about.

As he stacked the presents in neat pyramids, organized by receiver under the shimmering tree, all he could think about was her pale skin glowing in candlelight. As Christmas music wafted from the jukebox through the shop, all he could think about was the sounds of her sighs of pleasure and moans of ecstacy. As pure white snow drifted in floppy flakes to the ground outside the shop windows, all he could think about was staining her body with red marks from his lips. As he did his damnedest to keep as far from her as possible, all he could think about was holding her body against his.

She was an angel, whose wings would be burned to ashes at the mere thought of laying with him. 

_ I don’t deserve her, _ he thought as he stood up from his work and bent backwards to pop his back. Dante glanced to his desk, where Kyrie and Nero stood talking about something or another outside earshot as they sipped mugs of steaming cocoa. Catching his gaze, Kyrie smiled softly before returning her attention to her guardian. Her laughter at something he said rang like silver bells, and Nero glanced in Dante’s direction as well. Though the youth’s lips were smiling, the young hunter’s gaze narrowed on his half-blood uncle. It was the reminder Dante needed.  _ She’s not mine to want. _

The phone rang at the desk, and Kyrie took the call, cradling the receiver on her shoulder. She sat in his big comfortable chair, pen and paper at the ready to take down information. The maiden had slipped easily into the role of store secretary when she moved with Nero to the states, and while Dante had no proof that her taking calls was what helped the business make a little more profit, he couldn’t deny that clients were more willing to pay after hearing her voice on the phone as opposed to his or Nero’s. 

Dante folded the trash bags and set them aside for later, knowing they’d be reused when it came time to open presents. He tried not to act guilty as he passed Nero on his way to the kitchen. The meat and cheese platter had joined the line of crock-pots, as well as freshly cut vegetables and fruit from the groceries Dante had just brought. All four burners of the stove were occupied by a pot or pan with only the boxes inside them, marking what was going where. The glass casserole dish was beside Trish’s workspace as she massaged brown sugar into the ham in its massive roasting pan. Her blonde hair was pulled up into a messy bun for the time being. Watching her work made Dante’s heart hurt; it was one of the few rare moments he saw her acting like the woman she was modeled after.

“Need any help with anything?” Dante offered, leaning on the counter beside her. 

Trish shook her head. “Lady already offered to help cook, and I’m going to wait until the ham’s closer to being done before I actually put anything on the stove. Are the presents all out?”

“Yup.”

“Including the stockings? Lady worked really hard on those, you know.”

He rolled his eyes. “No, I decided to say fuck it and give the bags a good shake to redistribute the candy and stocking stuffers she got everyone.” Dante lifted his hands defensively under her glare. “They’re on the couches!”

She smirked a bit, rolling her eyes at him. “Get some wine and get out of my kitchen.”

“ _ Your _ kitchen? Who here pays the rent?”

“Technically…”

“Alright, alright! You win! I’m getting my wine and leaving!”

Grinning to himself, Dante poured some of the mulled wine into a stemless wine glass and headed out.

And as if to give him a middle finger, just as he was leaving the kitchen, Kyrie once more squeezed into the doorway. 

“Lady’s caught in traffic, but she’ll be back as soon as she can,” the maiden informed Trish.

“Where’d she go?” Dante asked.

“I forgot to have you grab rum for the egg nog, and pineapple and marshmallows for the...sweet…po..ta...” Trish’s words trailed off as she saw them standing in the doorway. 

He pointed a threatening finger at her. “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“ _ Don’t. _ ”

Trish shook her head and went back to her work. “I wasn’t going to say anything,” she said under her breath to herself, smiling.

The man sighed and looked down at the confused Kyrie. When he looked between her and the sprig of green above his head, she squeaked in realization and blushed once more. “I’m sorry!” Kyrie exclaimed. “I’m not doing it on purpose, I swear!”

“Really?” Dante asked with a grin. “Because we’ve  _ really _ gotta stop meeting like this.”

She pulled her head away as he leaned forward. “You don’t have to, you know.”

“Sure, I do! It’s Christmas, and it’d be unfair of me to  _ not  _ spoil my favorite secretary.”

Kyrie giggled. “Dante, I’m your  _ only _ secretary.”

He shrugged. “Who’s counting?”

As he leaned in to kiss the top of her head, she quickly stood up on her tiptoes and turned her head. The maiden snatched her prize, a sweet kiss on his stubbly cheek, and passed him to enter the kitchen fully. Dante was too stunned to move, only capable of watching helplessly as she opened the fridge to hoist the massive punch bowl of eggnog onto the last space on the counter reserved just for the holiday drink. His gaze couldn’t help but travel along her spine, down to the sweet curve of her hips, and her form-hugging gown didn’t help his imagination at all. Sipping the wine, he tore his eyes away and retreated to the living room before he could be accused of being naughty when she was being so  _ nice _ .

Dante flopped onto the couch, separated from Nero by the space of one full cushion. He moved his overstuffed stocking onto the coffee table between the two couches and stretched his legs across that distance, crossing them at his ankles. He exchanged a nod of acknowledgement with his nephew before both of them occupied themselves with dicking around on their cellphones. As he filled the virtual foodbowl for his cartoon cats, Dante pondered how he could ask Nero if the two were dating and if he actually had a shot with Kyrie. Every time he broached the topic in his mind, it ended in him getting stabbed. So Dante, for once, kept his mouth shut.

The doorbell ringing announced Lady’s entrance as she came in from the wintery outside, cradling a brown paper bag in one arm as she carried a grocery bag in the other. Dante hardly noticed her as he got up, stretching from sitting for too long. “I’m heading for a snack. You want anything, kid?”

Nero yawned and stood as well. “Yeah, I could go for something to nibble on,” he grumbled. “Dinner’s taking way too long.” 

Dante chuckled lowly to himself. “I hear you there.” He gestured for Nero to lead the way, not wanting to take any further chances. 

As they neared the kitchen, he saw Kyrie leaning against the closed fridge door, talking with Trish as the older woman sipped her own glass of wine. Lady leaned against the blonde, her arm around Trish’s waist. Dante held back a step, letting Nero go through first before stepping in himself. With the oven on and so many people clustered in one small area, the kitchen was cozy warm compared to the open, high-ceiling front room. But despite how much room there was to move, Dante made a point not to get too close to Kyrie and saw that Nero did the same as the younger hunter grabbed a plate at the other end of the kitchen and worked his way down the line of snacks.

“Dinner will be ready in a couple of hours,” Trish informed them, halting her conversation with the other girls. “Do you guys want to do finger foods and presents in the meantime or go straight to games and save the presents for after dinner?”

“Either is fine with me, as long as there’s food,” Nero replied, more to himself than to the others.

His mouth full with a chunk of cheese, Dante held up his hand in a silent offer, and Nero high-fived him. 

Kyrie rolled her eyes at both of them. Still, she smiled. “Games first,” she suggested. “And if we don’t have energy for all the presents, we can save half of them for tomorrow morning.”

“Just no drinking games,” Trish stated firmly, giving Lady a glare. “We  _ do _ have two teenagers here.”

“Oh come  _ on _ ,” Lady whined. “They’re demon hunters. The rules don’t count!”

“In my shop they do,” Dante growled, pointing a threatening finger at her now. The last thing he needed was for Kyrie to drink. Nero, he didn’t care. The knight could get smashed if he wanted. Kyrie, on the other hand, was a problem. What if she got too flirty? Would Dante be able to say no to her? No, he was nipping that problem in the bud right now. Just to be sure, he looked at the two newcomers to the company. “No booze.”

“Just one?” Lady argued.

He glared at her. “No. Booze.”

“Fine,” Lady grumbled in defeat.

In an audible stage whisper, Kyrie leaned towards Nero. “Is this the part we tell him we had wine every Sunday for communion?”

“Let him figure that out on his own,” Nero whispered loudly in return, smirking over his shoulder at Dante.

“A shot glass of wine is one thing! This is completely different!”

“Loosen up, Dante.” Lady let go of Trish to pat his chest. “They’re not going anywhere. They’re not taking your car out for a spin. They’ll both be here. And if anyone needs to go out on a job, Trish can be designated demon hunter for the evening.”

“Besides,” Trish chimed in with a knowing smile on her lips. “What’s the worst that can happen?”

He narrowed his gaze on her. Was she  _ trying _ to cause something? Dante, obviously outnumbered, sighed and growled in the same breath. “Fine. Whatever. But I am not cleaning up the mess in the bathroom tomorrow morning. You all can draw straws for that.”

After that, Dante made a point not to drink any more. He had already poured himself a second glass of wine to go with his mid-afternoon snack, but after that?  _ No more. _ He didn’t trust himself to not be on alert, especially after being caught twice already under that damn mistletoe. The half-blood had half a mind to tear that sprig down and plant it over the bathroom door, just to mess with whatever plans Lady and Trish were brewing. And they were up to  _ something _ , he decided, as he heard Lady offer Kyrie some of the egg nog behind him as he left the kitchen.

The party was  _ torture _ for Dante. While Lady respected his command for no drinking games, he felt himself more and more on edge every time Kyrie got up from her place on the couch to get another cup of nog. She  _ seemed _ sober as they played little party games, and that warmth on her cheeks could be out of embarrassment or from her laughter. He felt a tingle of heat travel through him every time their eyes met, and he had to make sure she was firmly seated beside Lady on the opposite couch when he got up to get dinner. Kyrie even waited until he was back before she got up as well. When she came back with a glass of wine and her dinner plate, he relaxed even less.

Because she seated herself right between him and Nero. 

He felt himself flinch on the inside as the cushion buckled under her perfect hips, and Dante looked away as she made herself comfortable. She leaned forward to set her glass on the table and balanced her plate delicately on her knees as she ate. Over dinner, the five talked between bites of food. With the winter settling in the city, Trish expected to see more ice demons. Lady and Nero discussed weapon upgrades and gunsmithing, though even Dante could hear the slur in the knight’s words. How many glasses of wine had Nero had? He’d been so worried about Kyrie, Dante didn’t think to keep an eye on her guardian. The maiden listened to each conversation with interest, nodding along and chiming in with her own opinion or knowledge when given the opportunity to. She rarely interrupted others, and at stretches she would sit there opening her mouth to speak, only to close her lips again when the conversation didn’t pause long enough for her to voice her thoughts. It unnerved him how damn  _ sweet _ and polite she was, especially compared to the other mature, battle-worn women. 

His stomach full and his mind warm from the wine, Dante wasn’t paying attention. He didn’t think twice as he got up and headed for the kitchen. He didn’t hear Kyrie speak softly to Nero, and he didn’t hear her even softer footsteps following him moments later until it was too late. 

As he started to leave the kitchen, there she was in the doorway with him.

Her hands were full with Nero’s plate and her own, but that didn’t stop her from smiling up at him expectantly. She even hopped up on her toes twice, tilting her head up at him. 

Dante shook his head. “Kyrie, no,” he whispered, as much as it pained him to say it.

The maiden blinked at him. “Dante, it’s okay,” she replied just as quietly. 

“Is it, though? How much have you had to drink?”

“I don’t see how that matters.”

“Of course you wouldn’t. You’ve…” He growled under his breath, shaking his head. “You haven’t been outside of Fortuna. Out in the real world, guys take advantage of girls who drink too much. I don’t want…”

“Kiss!” Trish hollered over from the living room.

Dante lifted his attention to the blonde and saw that all three of them were watching. Even Nero, hanging off the back of the couch. Much to Dante’s surprise, the knight was grinning. Then again, Nero could have been too drunk on wine to fully understand what was going on.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Lady chanted.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Trish chanted with her.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” All three chanted.

Kyrie set aside her dishes and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “It looks like we have no choice,” she said, looking up at him with a sparkle of mischievousness in her eye.

The half-blood hunter sighed and leaned toward her, planting his forearm against the doorframe above her head. He felt her shiver slightly as his hand curled under her chin, tilting her face up for him as she lifted herself on her tiptoes to close the distance further. Kyrie’s eyes closed as he drew nearer. His lips touched hers in a soft, chaste kiss. As the trio in the other whooped and hollered, Dante felt sparks shoot through his system. Worse yet, he felt the demon inside open an eye in interest, felt it stir against his skin, felt it  _ hunger _ for more as he pulled away from her. 

She smiled up at him as he opened his eyes. Kyrie didn’t ruin the moment with words. Instead, she ducked under his arm and gathered the dishes she’d been bringing to the kitchen, setting them in the sink as if nothing life-changing had happened right then, right there.

As if a kiss from Dante meant nothing at all to her.

He tried not to feel wounded as he returned to his seat at the couch. He smiled and laughed at the excitement and spirit of the others, internally confused and scrambling to figure out  _ why _ they were so excited by them kissing. As Nero yawned and Lady hopped from her seat to begin passing out presents, Dante tried to remember if anyone else had been caught under that damn mistletoe, or if he and Kyrie were being singled out. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember. Surely Lady and Trish have exchanged smooches by now, and Kyrie and Nero had to have as well, but between the fog of food, wine, and the lingering memory of his own kisses, Dante had difficulty dredging up the memory of seeing anyone else fall victim to Lady’s placement.

As oblivious as he was to everything else, Dante still could sense the energy of the party winding down. Nero was half asleep on the other side of Kyrie, and even Lady was having difficulty staying awake. After only one present opened (a pair of slippers from Kyrie to Trish), it was agreed upon that the presents would wait until tomorrow morning. Lady protested to being carried out to the car, but that didn’t stop Trish from scooping the other woman floppily into her arms. Dante went around the shop, unplugging the decorative lights that’d been strung about, and in the corner of his eye, he saw Kyrie go into the kitchen to put away leftovers for later. Left alone on the couch, Nero stretched out. His glowing Devil Bringer curled around a pillow, and he was out like a light by the time Dante turned off the lights on the Christmas tree.

Trish came back in to grab her coat and a bag of leftovers. “You okay with the kiddos staying the night?”

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Dante said with a shrug. “I can crash on the other couch, and Kyrie can sleep upstairs.”

The blonde quirked an eyebrow at him. “Oh?”

“I’ll change the sheets!”

“I’m sure you will,” she said to herself, turning to go. “Have a nice night, red. Merry Christmas.”

Dante squinted at her as she left, the door closing before he could think of a holly jolly way to tell her to fuck off. Shaking his head, he locked the door behind her and grabbed his pack of cigarettes and lighter from the pocket of his coat. He stopped outside the kitchen. “I’m heading up for a smoke,” he told Kyrie. “If you need me, I’ll be on the roof.”

“Did the others leave already?”

“Yeah. You and Nero are crashing here. Once I’m done smoking, I’ll grab a spare blanket and pillow, and change the sheets for you on the bed.”

“Dante, wait…”

He didn’t. There was very little she could say that he wanted to hear, and everything that had happened that day, Dante needed a minute to himself. The man walked away and went upstairs, into his room, and out the window to the fire escape. The roof was his own little sanctuary, the one place he could call his own after his shop had been invaded by co-workers, partners, and hunters. 

It was still snowing when he got up to the roof. The two deck chairs he had sitting there were covered in the stuff, as was the little metal garden table he had sitting out. Dante hardly felt the cold as he dug through the snow for his ashtray and dumped it on the rooftop, holding it with one hand as the other swept the snow from the table. The wire antenna above him swayed and creaked in the wind as he set the crystal ashtray on the table and tapped a cigarette from it’s pack. As he held it in his lips and lit it, Dante drew a long drag and sighed it out, watching the snow fall. He closed his eyes and listened to it fall.

He heard her weight on the rusty fire escape. He heard the snow crunching beneath her boots. But he was still surprised to hear her voice.

“Dante?”

The man turned to face Kyrie as she approached him cautiously. She didn’t bother to lift her skirt to keep the snow from making it wet, and he could see the streaks of dirt on it where she had struggled through the open window in his room. But despite these things, as the snow fell on her and around her, Dante couldn’t help but see her as beautiful. The orange glow of a nearby streetlight gave her an unearthly aura, and the snowflakes around her sparkled as she came up to him. She hugged herself for warmth, and if he had remembered to grab his coat, he would have wrapped it around her shoulders to warm her. Instead, all he had was himself, and he didn’t trust himself with her.

“You forgot your coat,” he told her with a weak smile.

She shook her head, deflecting his attempt to lighten the mood. “Dante, have I upset you?”

“What? No. No! Why would you think you have?”

“Well…” Kyrie was standing beside him now, her eyes on the snow at their feet. “I feel like you’ve been avoiding me this evening. And that I’ve perhaps made you...uncomfortable earlier.”

“Uncomfortable? How?”

Her eyes lifted to meet his, and she quirked an eyebrow at him, proving that she’d perhaps spent too much time around Trish to have learned that  _ look. _

Dante rubbed his nose a bit with his hand. “Yeah, well, it’s not every day I get kissed by such a cute girl. Besides, you’re Nero’s girlfriend! I have no right to be kissing you, tradition or not!”

“Nero’s not my boyfriend.”

He felt his eyes bug out as he looked at her. “Ex _ cuse _ me?”

Kyrie smiled at him, though she held her hands near her lips to try to hide that smile. “Nero isn’t my boyfriend. I do love him, but I’ve always thought of him as my brother, and he will always see me as his sister.” She shook her head. “We’re not dating.” Her eyes fell shyly as she stepped a little closer. “And Lady told me that you two aren’t either.”

The lightbulb in Dante’s mind turned on. “The mistletoe...Trish said it was Lady’s idea!”

Her head bobbed side to side thoughtfully. “The placement of it was, yes. But after she told me what it was for, I insisted that it be hung somewhere I knew you would pass frequently. And really, there was nowhere else for it  _ to _ hang. Kissing under it on the way to the bathroom seemed less...romantic.”

“Ro...romantic…”

“Dante, do…” Her eyes seemed so big as she met his gaze. “Do you...not think of me as being worthy of being your girlfriend?”

He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How many drink had he  _ had _ ? He only remembered the two, and those were hours ago! Surely he had sobered out by now. “Wait, wait, wait... _ You _ want to be  _ my _ girlfriend?”

Kyrie looked as confused as he felt. “Well, yes.”

Dante needed a moment to pick his jaw up off the ground. This cute little pure thing wanted to be  _ his _ girlfriend?  _ She _ wanted to kiss him? Wanted to go out on dates with him? Maybe this was just a language barrier thing or some sort of cultural difference. Maybe girlfriend meant something else on Fortuna.

“Okay wait, let’s take this a step back here. You know what girlfriend means, right?”

She blinked at him. “Yes. It means…” Kyrie blushed and giggled to herself, shy at having to say it out loud. “It means holding hands and kissing. That perhaps even doing more...intimate things. It means spending time together! And that we are significant to one another. Maybe even that some day we’ll get…” Her voice lowered to a whisper. “Married.” She shook her head. “Not now, of course! We don’t know yet if we’re compatible with one another! But that’s the point of dating and becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. To see if those fleeting feelings of love will bloom into something more.”

Well, she knew what a girlfriend was after all. But Dante still had so many questions. He sighed and snuffed out the cigarette, wrapping his hands around hers to warm them. “Kyrie, you  _ do _ realize that I’m old, right? Like, I’m forty-five, and you’re what? Eighteen?”

“Twenty!” 

“Still! I’m old enough to be your father. Doesn’t that bother you in the least bit?”

She shook her head, smiling. “No.”

“I’m a demon.”

“Half-demon,” Kyrie corrected.

“And that doesn’t bother you either?”

“Not the slightest bit.”

“I’m dirt poor.”

“I don’t care.”

“You’re drunk, aren’t you?”

“Not at all! Lady forgot to spike the eggnog.”

Dante sighed and booped his forehead against hers, causing her to giggle quietly. “Is there _ anything _ I can say that will get you to change your mind?”

“You could say you don’t like me. That...that would be a pretty good deterrent, now wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, but there’s the problem. I…I really like you. A lot. You’re sweet, you’re kind, you’re fucking beautiful...I can’t…” He closed his eyes. “I can’t imagine why someone as wonderful as you would be interested in someone like  _ me _ .”

“Dante, you’re wonderful too you know.”

He chuckled weakly. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“I’m really not.” She couldn’t stop smiling. “You’re kind too. And you’re sweet as well. And I must admit, you are very handsome. But there’s more than that too! You’re funny, and when I came here, to this strange and foreign land, you were always going out of your way to make Nero and I comfortable here. We were homeless, and you gave us a home.”

“After I destroyed your last one…”

Kyrie shook her head. “Dante…”

He opened his eyes, immediately drawn and drowning in her earthen eyes. Her eyes like the warmth of summer day, like the wisdom of the forests. Dante couldn’t help but smile. “Then I guess, if I have Nero’s approval…”

“You do. Begrudgingly, but you do have Nero’s approval.”

“If you want to be my girlfriend, and I want to be your boyfriend, then...that’s it. We’re dating now.”

She squealed quietly in excitement, hopping a bit. “Does that mean I can kiss you? For real? Without mistletoe?”

“Anytime you want.”

“I want to kiss you now.”

“Then Miss Kyrie, you may.”

/The End


End file.
